Systems and methods for dispensing liquid materials as may be used in applications for coating flexible films and the like. Such a film may be coated by dispensing a rheological material onto its surface while drawing the film through a gap between a pair of rollers. The gap defines the thickness of a layer of the material applied to the film and is maintained at a desired width by microwires positioned through the gap. Another film across the gap from that to which the rheological material is applied aids in the coating of the layer and a contact area of the second film may be adjusted relative to the gap, e.g., when changing materials or when the coating film becomes abraded or deformed.